SMOKED TROUT RAVIOLI
The filling in this is pretty simple, as is the sauce, but getting the feel right with the pasta is the tough part - watch it like a hawk. This recipe was the definition of winging it, so make sure you taste taste taste, and make it your own.
Ingredients for the pasta
240 Baby spinach leaves
Olive oil
Salt
00 Flour, or Plain white flour
Ingredients for the filling
Hot Smoked Trout (or salmon)
Salt, white Pepper
Oat Cream
Ingredients for the sauce
1/2 cup raw almonds
Oat Cream (can use dairy too)
Salt, white pepper
Tarragon leaves, flat-leaf parsley
Olive oil
Lemon, for juice and zest
Method
For the pasta: in a food processor or blender, put the baby spinach leaves along with a generous lug of olive oil and good pinch of salt, and then slowly add water until its loose, like a smoothie texture. Push that through a sieve to get rid of the pulp (set the pulp aside). The liquid should get you about a half a cup. If not, add a bit more water.
On a board, put about 1 and a half cups of flour. Make a well in the middle, pour in the bright green liquid. With a fork, slowly mix the flour into the liquid until it doesnt look like its going to go everywhere, then incorporate the flour totally and knead. It might be a bit wet, so add flour a spoonful at a time until the dough no longer sticks to you fingers, and is smooth to the touch. Put in a bowl, cover the bowl with a warm, damp towel and leave to rest for half an hour.
During the resting period, we'll make the filling. Remove the trout skin (if any) and flake into a bowl. Add the spinach pulp, a lug of olive oil and 2-3 tablespoons of oat cream. A grind of pepper and a pinch of salt. Here, you can either blend with an immersion blender to a thick paste, or mash if you want a bit more texture. Stir in a couple of pinches of white pepper. Taste, adjust salt/pepper levels if needed. Hot smoked tends to have quite a bit of flavour already so it shouldn't need much.
The sauce is very simple. In a frying pan with a lug of olive oil, add the almonds and toast on a medium heat until the almond smell becomes fragrant. Watch these carefully, you don't want to burn them. Once toasted, add about half a cup of the cream, and a half a cup of water and blend until smooth. Here, you can either decide to make a tarragon infused olive oil, by taking a couple of long stalks of tarragon and infusing whole with a cup of olive oil at a heat of around 70°C, or add those tarragon stalks directly to the sauce, and simmer at the lowest heat while you construct the ravioli. Remove the leaves before serving. The sauce should be smooth, and quite thick - nearing a paste.
For the ravioli, roll out the pasta into thin sheets, and using your preferred method, create the ravioli with the trout filling.
Once complete, boil in water that is as salty as the sea.
Make a bed of sauce, add the ravioli on top, zest lemon over top and cut out a wedge to squeeze over top. Pepper. Garnish with parsley leaves and tarragon, serve.
Enjoy.
